Respond today to HMRC emails sent to the self employed or possibly lose the right to make further claims.
In October H.M. Revenue & Customs contacted over 24,000 self-employed individuals by email who had claimed one or both of the SEISS grants rolled out to date, asking them to confirm by completing an online form, whether or not they had ceased trading. From information we have just received, a large proportion of those contacted by the Revenue have not responded to this email.
Where a business has not responded to the Revenue’s email by the end of today, they will not be eligible to make a SEISS claim when the portal opens for a third time on 30 November 2020.
Many tax payers are reluctant to reply to emails received from HMRC for fear of being hacked and so they may have made a conscious decision not to respond.
HMRC may have contacted the 24,000 for a variety of reasons: –
– the taxpayer may have noted on their 2019-20 tax return that they had ceased trading
– HMRC may have received information from third parties that the tax payer had ceased trading (which may be incorrect information).
– the taxpayer may have deregistered for VAT but is in fact still trading.
We apologise for the late notification of this information but we have only today become aware of the position ourselves as these emails have not been sent to accountants acting for clients however, we are getting this information out as quickly as possible as part of our mission to keep our clients fully informed of the latest tax changes
If you have received and email in October from H.M. Revenue & Customs, asking if you have ceased trading and requesting that you complete an online form we strongly recommend that you respond today or risk losing the chance to make a third claim on 30 November 2020
We suggest that you check your inbox and your junk folder for any emails received from HMRC since 1 October and if you find that they have contacted you, reply today
